The surge 2 boss12/22/2023 “But that does mean the legislation would have to change.” He also suggested to see “how much of the biometrics we need to register to get the process going”.įacial recognition technology is now available on smartphones and cameras, he continues, but the technology for fingerprinting is “not so great yet”. “One of the things that we have been seeking is for that registration process to be done online or remotely,” added Bannister. It would be dangerous… So what we’ve been clear about is that any interventions that EES requires need to be done in the car… They need to be thinking a process that caters for passengers being in the vehicle and staying in the vehicle,” he argues. “We can’t have people just get out of their car and wander around looking for a kiosk. “That carries concerns, given the nature of our operations, where everything is moving and we have got trucks, coaches, motorcycles, caravans and cars. “The process as we have seen it has not had any considerations yet as to people going through a busy ferry terminal,” he explained. The challenge is that the EES could generate queues, whether at the port or at the destination airport, as it involves taking four fingerprints and a facial image of all non-EU nationals crossing into the Schengen area. One of the benefits, he says, is that “when you get to the other side, there is no queue, you just drive off the ferry and carry on.” People are currently advised to arrive 90 minutes before departure to go through security and immigration controls. “And to sit here early November, May 2023 seems awfully close to get all of that done,” he warned.īannister explained that the UK and France operate juxtaposed controls at some border crossings, including Dover, meaning that immigration checks are carried out upfront. Then we need time to train people to implement it. “Someone needs to describe the process and to show us the technology to support that process… We need to understand the implications of it, then we need to test to see if the technology doesn’t work well… or doesn’t do what the process is asking to do. Now the regrettable thing is that until we truly know the details of how the system is going to work, the technology, the process… we have nothing to plan on to mitigate the concerns. “In every single period in the last three or four years, when deadlines have been set, we have always had to plan on the solution coming into place on the deadline. He said the planned implementation in May, just at the start of the summer travel season, could be a “risky time”. So how is the port planning for this major change next May?ĬEO Doug Bannister told The Local he does not know yet how the new system will work and he would welcome a delay or a transition period that would allow testing and addressing concerns. Already last summer long queues formed at UK Channel crossing points over the holiday season due to peak traffic and more rigorous post-Brexit checks. Given the amount of traffic it absorbs, the port of Dover will be particularly impacted by the EES. The border sees a huge amount of traffic – around 60 million passengers per year – and has a further quirk, that due to the Le Touquet agreement there are three places in the UK where travellers to the EU are cleared before departure the port of Dover, Folkestone rail terminal and London’s St Pancras station.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |